“The Wind in the Bamboo: A Journey in Search of Asia’s ‘Negrito’ Indigenous People” reveals the plight of tribal Asians who were classified as a separate race and considered doomed to vanish. Defined as “Negrito” because they physically resemble small Africans, they may have the most ancient ancestry in Asia. Nearly exterminated by disease and a cataclysmic volcano, these extraordinary people now survive as forest hunter gatherers in only a few places: mainland Malaysia, the Philippines and India’s remote Andaman Islands. Some are still armed with spears and blowpipes, a few with cellphones and graduate degrees.

“The Wind in the Bamboo” examines issues of race, identity, the body, scientific classification and genocide, through a sweeping Chatwinesque narrative of journeys into the remaining lands of these ancient forest people. Edith Mirante presents the story of the “Negrito” peoples (the ultimate survivors) with candor, wit and compassion. “The Wind in the Bamboo” will captivate readers who wonder who we humans are, where we come from and where we are going.